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CHICAGO — Families in the United States expect to be reunited as early as this weekend with some
of the more than 300 Peace Corps volunteers being evacuated from three western African nations
affected by the Ebola outbreak.

“We did really have faith in the Peace Corps that if things would become dangerous they would do
what they’re now doing,” said Mirna Jope of Carmichael, Calif., whose 25-year-old son called home
on Thursday after learning he would be leaving Sierra Leone.

In his personal blog, Dawson Jope described the Peace Corps’ withdrawal of all its workers from
Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia as “testament to the deadly potential and spread of the disease,”
noting that the organization’s first priority is volunteers’ safety.

More than 700 people have died in four countries since cases first emerged in March.

“I’m sure most of you have many, many questions. I have some answers, but not the time at the
moment to present them all because me and my fifty-four other colleagues are in the hectic process
of preparing for our evacuation of country,” Jope wrote in a blog entry on Thursday.

“That statement alone does not come close to conveying the maelstrom of stresses that have been
placed upon all of us so quickly thrust into this situation. Just know that we are all safe and
healthy.”

A Peace Corps spokeswoman said the organization is working to bring the volunteers home as
quickly as possible.

The group’s medical officers are assessing volunteers before their departure as a precaution.
The organization is advising them to monitor their health, including checking their temperature
twice daily per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. The medical officers will
check with returning volunteers and be on call if they experience symptoms or have concerns.

The volunteers don’t know when they’ll be permitted to return to western Africa, a
disappointment for some who had long anticipated their service.

“I don’t want to get Ebola, but I am willing to accept the possibility of contracting Ebola to
do what I think is right,” Dane Sosniecki, a 25-year-old volunteer in Liberia, wrote on this blog. “
An old mentor of mine once said, ‘Risk is part of the game if you want to sit in that chair.’”